1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to the use of powered bristles to clean drill pipe and the like using wire bristles. Even more particularly, the present invention relates to a hand held power brush unit which provides angularly disposed bristles to clean both the thread and facing of oilfield drill pipe while dispensing cleaning fluid thereto.
2. General Background
In the oil and gas industry, it is known to use various lengths of pipe known as drill pipe which are connected together section to section. Also, production tubing and casing is connected end to end in the oil and gas industry.
Usually the connecting together of drill pipe, casing, and the like is done by means of threaded connections with each of the joints of pipe having an externally threaded pin end portion and an internally threaded "box" end portion with the pin connection connecting to the box connection as is known in the art.
These joints of drill pipe need to be cleaned from time to time of rust, scale, drilling mud and the like. The cleaning of this drill pipe requires a set of bristles which are rotary in nature being faced inwardly or outwardly to clean the pin and box connections respectively.
Power brushes to clean the threads of drill pipe per say are known, with the majority of devices being arkward or bulky, requiring multiple operators to handle them or having complex arrangements for clamping the brushes which provides maintenance problems and lost down time and the like.
3. General Discussion of the Present Invention
The present invention solves these problems and shortcomings in a simple, straightforward fashion by providing a power brush apparatus for cleaning pipe threads. The apparatus of the present invention can be operated by a single individual having places for the gripping of the tool in such a manner that the operator can actuate both the power to the bristles for rotating them in a manner which cleans the thread and at the same time with the other hand can dispense cleaning fluid into the threads to be cleaned and these two operations can be done independently of one another.
The present invention provides a rotary power brush having a rotary gun which provides a shaft, a handle for gripping the gun, and a trigger located approximately to the handle for actuating rotation of the shaft. A circular baffle plate is mounted securedly with respect to the gun and provides an opening therethrough through which the rotary shaft passes during operation with some clearance allowing rotation of the shaft with respect to the baffle plate. A cylindrical shroud having affixation by welding, for example, to the periphery of the baffle plate is provided and forms with the baffle plate a closed end portion of the shroud adjacent the gun. The opposite end portion of the shroud is normally open. A handle is affixed to the shroud with a valve being mounted on the handle and being receptive of a supply of flowing cleaning fluid which is dispensed into the interior of the shroud through the valve. A flexible rubber-like closure is removably placed over the shroud open end portion with the closure having a central opening through which the threaded end of a joint of pipe to be cleaned can pass, with the opening approximating the outer diameter of the joint of pipe and attempting to form a seal thereabout to retain as much cleaning fluid within the shroud as possible as the fluid is dispensed into the valve. The rubber-like closure prevents loss of cleaning fluid as the device is operated due to splashing out the open end portion of the shroud.
A brush carriage is mounted securedly yet removably on the shaft for rotation therewith, the carriage comprising a generally circular hub having a hub opening to which the shaft attaches during operation thus allowing the brush carriage to rotate with respect to the shroud and the power gun. A plurality of inwardly facing channels are secured equi-radially about the hub at the periphery of the hub and are mounted at one end of the channel to the hub and project outwardly therefrom along a line which eventually intersects the axis of the shaft. Each of the channels carries a wire brush having a plurality of projecting bristles which are spaced along the length thereof with each of the channels being angularly supported with respect to the axis of the shaft and the bristles of each of the brushes thus being secured within the channels registering with the threads of the drill pipe being cleaned.
It is thus an object of the present invention to provide a power brush cleaning apparatus which can be manipulated by a single operator individual.
Another object of the present invention is to provide a power brush apparatus in which the power supply and brush carriage are in a single hand held unit.
Another object of the present invention is to provide a power brush unit having a brush carriage configuration which maximizes the number of brushes being carried and thus the cleaning action on the threads.
Another object of the present invention is to provide a power brush apparatus which cleans drill pipe threads including both the threads and the facing.
Another object of the present invention is to provide an apparatus for cleaning drill pipe threaded end portions thereof including both the box and pin connections.
Another object of the present invention is to provide a cleaning apparatus for cleaning drill pipe threaded connections which in combination supplies a cleaning fluid to the bristles which clean the drill pipe during the cleaning operation in a controlled fashion.